Author
Submitted to: Phytopathology
Publication Type: Other Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/2002 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Bacterial diseases often result in significant loses in the production and quality of ornamental crops, and are very difficult to control. The use of genetically engineered crops offers a novel and effective strategy for control of bacterial diseases. Commercialization of such crops, however, is limited by the use of promoters that have licensing restrictions. To obviate licensing problems, we isolated a promoter fragment from a cloned isolate of Citrus yellow mosaic virus (CYMV). This was done by fusing different regions of the CYMV genome to the coding region of the GUS gene and a CYMV region with strong promoter activity was identified by analyzing the amount of transient GUS gene expression in tobacco leaves transformed by particle bombardment. We are in the process of comparing the strength of the CYMV promoter with that of the Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter, and determining the tissue specifically of the CYMV promoter in transgenic tobacco plants. These studies are important steps toward the development and successful commercialization of trangenic ornamental crops for bacterial resistance. |